Growth Agency Is Growing Up Development Board Gets New Office, Turns Sights Toward Home

March 16, 1992|By ROBERT McCABE, Business Writer

If the posh new home of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County symbolizes its deal-making power, look out.

For $1,600 in out-of-pocket expenses and for the same rent, the board moved into an office 1,400 square feet larger than the old one -- and picked up $50,000 worth of new furnishings along the way.

In January, the board moved from 3,200 square feet of space on the ninth floor of the NCNB building into 4,600 square feet of space on the building`s first floor, said President Larry L. Pelton.

The new furnishings, complete with an elegant board room, were made possible by rent concessions, a commitment by the landlord to upgrade the space and the help of an interior designer on the organization`s board, Pelton said.

The face lift is intended to create an image that more accurately reflects the business culture of Palm Beach County, Pelton said.

Ironically, while the development board now has swankier quarters in which to discuss possible deals with companies from the Northeast or elsewhere, that isn`t the exclusive focus of the board`s activities, Pelton said.

While continuing its recruitment efforts, the board is also trying to find ways of nurturing companies already here, encouraging the spawning of start-up firms and developing international trade opportunities.

SRI International, a California-based economic research firm, is now about halfway through a nine-month, $100,000 study designed to help the county formulate a comprehensive strategy.

This week, SRI consultants will meet with executives from around the county to identify what their firms do and the kinds of resources they need, Pelton said.

Similar meetings have been held in previous months and other groups are scheduled to gather next month, he said.

``We`re trying to measure economic potential and then design programs to advance that potential,`` Pelton said.

In conducting its study, SRI is looking at five main areas, Pelton said:

-- Identifying technologies to develop.

-- Availability of capital.

-- Educatiing and training the labor force.

-- Maintenance and growth of the infrastructure.

-- The tax and regulatory climate.

The SRI study is scheduled to be concluded this summer.

Though Florida led the nation in relocations and expansions for the fourth time in as many years in 1991, things are cooling off, Pelton said, though competition is fairly brutal.

``We used to only have to worry about competing with other metro areas,`` he said. Now rural areas are offering cash-strapped companies deals that appear to be unbeatable.

Not long ago, the board lost a company that was also negotiating with two rural communities -- one offering land for about 50 cents a foot, the other offering land free.

The best rate Pelton said he could offer in Palm Beach County was $1.75 a foot.

The company wound up taking the offer of free land.

The board, however, plans to continue its efforts to lure new firms.

A direct-mail program to companies in the Northeast is planned, Pelton said. Next year, a telemarketing effort is planned, he said.